I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Cops & Clobbers in Deadwood
by
Ann Charles
humor, cozy mystery, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by the author on November 29, 2024 and has 466 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Nearly Departed in Deadwood
Fourteenth in the Deadwood funny cozy paranormal mystery series set in Deadwood, South Dakota, and revolving around Violet Parker, a Realtor and single mom. The focus is on those danged clocks and dodging Hawke. And, it’s been a year since Violet moved to Deadwood.
My Take
One of the cozy aspects oEspecially when Doc is already living f Cops & Clobbers in Deadwood is that gathering of friends and family at Aunt Zoe’s for assorted meals — at least they all share the cooking chores!
Phew, that Susan keeps the tension up with all the expectations Violet has about her “crooked as the devil’s backbone” sister. I’m still trying to figure out how the big fish’s will naming Violet’s kids as benefactors works in. I reckon I missed a few books in the series. I’ll have to fix that. Meanwhile, Charles seems to have come up with a reason for Susan’s nastiness.
I think Violet is deluded about her desire to keep her kids ignorant of hers and Doc’s relationship, since Doc is already living with Violet in her aunt Zoe’s house. How she reconciles that with keeping her engagement secret, I don’t know.
The gang does have a thing for aliases and case naming. As for those mentions of popcorn for the various “shows” . . . lol. I hope you know your Addams Family lore.
More conflict (and tension) is Addy showing signs of following in Violet’s ancestral footsteps with Layne a monster beacon. She’s also having precognitive dreams about her mom. Seems the kids and Violet inherited this from Violet’s father. As for their sperm donor, he’s got his own devious plans about the kids and Violet. Charles offsets the dramatic tension with the kids with the funny bits from Violet’s knowledgable children.
Mom finally has someone to smooch on besides us.
That Hawke. He does have good reason to suspect Violet, but he is in need of a LOT more information. Still it does make for a lot more tension for Violet and the gang in their quest to save the Black Hills. Oh, and Violet and her family. Admittedly, Violet did not help matters when she pretended to be a witch and put hexes on Hawke.
Yet more tension comes with the bounty hunter stalking Violet and the not-visible, growing handprint on both Violet and Daisy and Madame’s possession at Carhart.
I do love Daisy’s friendship with Elvis. Wearing sweaters, painting nails, sleeping together, and palling around. Daisy herself is a conundrum and acts against her impish nature.
Cornelius’ description of Violet’s spirituality cracked me up: “sprawled in the gutter with an empty bottle of tequila next to you and gum in your hair”.
We learn all this through Charles’ use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Violet’s perspective.
There’s plenty of action with lots of plotting and whispering right along with the laughs in this silly story.
The Story
Those clocks are crucial for Violet, if only to know when the others are coming to hurt people.
Now if only Hawke weren’t such a hardcase!
The Characters
The honey-loving Violet “Sparky” Parker, a.k.a. Killer, a single mother and a Realtor with Calamity Jane Realty, is engaged and a Scharfrichter, a.k.a. the Executioner. The brainy, excitable Layne and wily Addy are her fraternal twins who are about to celebrate their tenth birthday. They’re all living with Aunt Zoe, a glass artist and the family magistra. Quint, a photojournalist, is Violet’s older brother. Her parents are Blake (Zoe’s brother) and her hippie mom, Hope. (Dad has passed on his genetics for the Summoner bloodline for males while the Scharfrichter traits go to the females.) Susan is Violet’s untrustworthy, duplicitous half-sister.
Daisy is the imp Addy insisted on adopting into her menagerie that includes Elvis, the chicken; Rooster the dog; The Duke, who is a gerbil; Bogart the cat; and, Buck, the stuffed pink-haired unicorn. The Arcana is a magischer Spiegal, a special mirror that can entrap.
Doc Nyce is Violet’s secret fiancé and a financial advisor who has learned he has Oracle abilities.
Old Man Harvey Willis, Cooper’s uncle, is retired and quite the ladies’ man who loves to bodyguard Violet and shock her with his tales of wooing. Bessie is his beloved shotgun. Cornelius “Spirit Miser” Curion is Violet’s inter-realm traveling pal and ghost hunter who’s buying a haunted hotel. Edith the Arbiter lives in a stone pendant. Millicent, a shaman stone, and Winifred. Cornelius’ cousin, a medium in New Orleans, had opened herself too wide.
Mr Black, an other, is Violet’s partner in Timekeeping. His middleman with Violet is Eddie Mudder, the owner of Mudder Brothers Funeral Parlor — Eddie’s been nominated for the Best Electric Organ Hip-hop Original Song.
Galena House is a boarding house with a fatal reputation and is owned by Freesia Tender — she’s interested in Cornelius (An Ex to Grind, 5). Big Jake Tender had been Freesia’s greats-uncle. Ms Wolff had been the tenant who was murdered.
Calamity Jane Realty had been owned by Jane, who is now a ghost. It seems Jane’s office closet is actually the entrance to a Hellhole. Jerry is Jane’s jerk of an ex-husband now running the office. His latest kooky idea is hiring the sparkly Madame Olivia Contraire, Medium Extraordinaire, who in interested in psychology. Mona Hollister, Jane’s best friend, and Ben are fellow Realtors.
Detective Cooper, Uncle Willis’ nephew, is dating Natalie Beals, Violet’s best friend, and is frenemies with Violet. Cooper is supposed to be Hawke’s police partner. Reid Martin is the fire captain and trying to get back in Zoe’s good graces. Ox is Reid’s son. Natalie has cousins in Arizona: Claire, the pregnant Kate, and Ronnie Morgan.
The irritating, offensive Detective Stone Hawke (An Ex to Grind) is on loan from Rapid City to investigate the death of Ms Wolff — he is HIGHLY suspicious of Violet and will do anything to arrest her.
The overly critical and violent Prudence, a.k.a. Prudy, is a dead Executioner who lives in the old Carhart mansion in Lead. The current occupiers of the house are Zelda, a retired librarian who can channel Prudence, and Zeke Britton, who is a consultant. Dominick Masterson is a troublemaker. Theodore Weatherly is the town archivist.
The Timekeeper’s job is to maintain the balance between good and evil in the Black Hills. Harvey’s grandfather had named the citizens of Slagton whangdoodles. That Harvey must have inherited his whacky sense of humor from him. Rex Connor is the jerky sperm donor for Violet’s kids (An Ex to Grind). Wilda Hessler was in Nearly Departed in Deadwood, 1. Paranormal Realty was a three-part show about haunted real estate in Deadwood. Rosy had been the show’s camerawoman. Hooch had been the tycoon who’d married Susan under false pretenses. Ray Underhill may have a possession problem.
A redcap goblin bounty hunter can be zealous and territorial. Kyrkozz is an orange-eyed demon who wants to rip out Violet’s throat. The mardagayl is not an enemy. Lila Beaumont had been a demon-hugging loon. The Bone Cruncher. The Duzarx and the caper-sus are more of the others. I think a lidérc is a good other? Zuckerman woman. Calypso. A Juggernaut.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a collage of events with a gorgeous streaky turquoise background that frames the burl wood clock with its morphing numbers framed in carved wood, sitting on a grainy brown floor. There appears to be an imp on the right side of the clock case just above a pair of jeans-clad legs wearing bright purple cowboy boots. At the top is the title in mostly white with a “CL” in red that replaces a ghostly “R”. At the bottom is the author’s name in white with an info blurb below it in red.
The title is a rip on “cops and robbers, more likely, with Violet, to be Cops & Clobbers in Deadwood.
